I can find no Menominee county specific polling to identify our county’s preferences. About twice a year, the Glengariff Group Inc. conducts an extensive statewide survey in Michigan for the Detroit Regional Chamber. The survey asks “What do you think is the most important issue facing Michigan today” and usually lists the top 18-20 reasons. Glengariff seems pretty reliable; the analytic site FiveThirtyEight.com judged that Glengariff was right on 85% of its elections calls.
The table below lists the top ten picks which represent the views of 70%-90% of respondents. The date the survey was published is at the top of the column. Each cell shows the concern, and how many/what percentage of respondents picked that concern. Please notice that a very large percentage of respondents in May 2023-December 2022 chose “Don’t know/Refused/Nothing” as their top choice.
Michiganders Top Ten Concerns According to Glengariff Polling
| Rank | Nov 2023 | May 2023 | Feb 2023 | Dec 2022 | May 2022 |
| 1 | Don’t know/Refused/Nothing 123 20.3 % | Don’t know/Refused/Nothing 93 15.4 % | Inflation/ Cost of gas and goods 152 25.3 % | Inflation/ Cost of gas and goods 143 23.7 % | The economy/inflation 199 33.0 % |
| 2 | The economy and jobs 110 18.2 % | The economy and jobs 82 13.6 % | Don’t know/Refused/Nothing 129 21.5 % | Don’t know/Refused/Nothing 107 17.7 % | Roads and infrastructure 81 13.4 % |
| 3 | Inflation/ Cost of gas and goods 98 16.2 % | Inflation/ Cost of gas and goods 69 11.5 % | The economy and jobs 65 10.8 % | The economy and jobs 104 17.2 % | Don’t know/Refused/Nothing 75 12.4 % |
| 4 | Roads and infrastructure 58 9.6 % | Crime and gun control 68 11.3 % | Roads and infrastructure 63 10.5 % | Abortion/ Women’s rights 44 7.3 % | Roe v Wade/ Abortion 66 10.9 % |
| 5 | The Democrats and our governor 30 5.0 % | Roads and infrastructure 54 9.0 % | Education quality and funding 29 4.8 % | Roads and infrastructure 41 6.8 % | Government leadership/ Democrats/ Republicans 50 8.3 % |
| 6 | Corrupt government/ partisan politics 26 4.3 % | Education quality and funding 40 6.6 % | Crime and drugs 24 4.0 % | Crime and drugs 27 4.5 % | Corrupt government/ partisan politics 34 5.6 % |
| 7 | Education quality and funding 25 4.1 % | Biden/ the Democrats 32 5.3 % | Corrupt government/ partisan politics 18 3.0 % | The Democrats 24 4.0 % | Crime and drugs 22 3.6 % |
| 8 | Taxes and government spending 23 3.8 % | Taxes and government spending 30 5.0 % | Taxes and government spending 18 3.0 % | Corrupt government/ partisan politics 24 4.0 % | Education quality and funding 15 2.5 % |
| 9 | Green energy and environmental protection 19 3.1 % | Abortion/ Women’s rights 29 4.8 % | Abortion/ Women’s rights 18 3.0 % | Education quality and funding 21 3.5 % | Labor shortage/ People don’t want to work 11 1.8 % |
| 10 | Quality and cost of health care 17 2.8 % | Climate change and environmental issues 17 2.8 % | Biden/ the Democrats 14 2.3 % | Cultural/social division 13 2.2 % | Environmental issues 11 1.8 % |
Few Place Election Integrity as a Top Concern
A tiny number of Michiganders see election integrity as their most important issue. The November 2023 poll showed 1 person out of 603 concerned about election security and another person concerned about election fraud. That would be .33% of respondents. Between May 2023 and December 2022, the issue of “election integrity’ ranked 13th – 16th (0.7%-1.5% of respondents) on the Glengariff polls. It was not mentioned in the May 2022 poll. By contrast the November 2022 poll showed that 13.3% of Michigan voters said the election was both unfair and inaccurate. compared to 74.1% who thought the election fair or 75.3% as accurate.